Struggle to Live Or Die, The
by Rakusa
Summary: To die would be great adventure quote Peter Pan. Destiny and choices... one decision effects another, but one is no greater than any other. Suspended... BUT WILL BE COMING BACK TO IT!
1. Chapter 1

The Struggle to Live or Die  
1/28/07

_"To die would be a great adventure." - Peter Pan_

_I enjoy life. I think I'll enjoy death even more.  
-- Cat Stevens  
_

Serena couldn't feel anything. The world around her was spinning a tenfold of colors in every which direction and she couldn't get it to stop. She hadn't been aware of anything but blackness when suddenly her world burst into the kaleidoscope of sensations and colors. Just as suddenly though, everything froze and she could make out the swirls of colors and the lines that interweaved. She reached out her hand and didn't feel anything, she couldn't touch it, all she could see was her hand and it seemed like some distance between it and the colors that surrounded her to a claustrophobic amount.

Serena stalked forward and tried it again. Her hand went through the colors as if it was water, but it wasn't clear like water was. The colors seemed to swallow her hand and part of her arm. It was cool against her skin.

The walls changed again, and she was sinking through the colored ground. She fell through and landed on a grassy slope. The blades bit into her palms and she plucked one from the ground to see if it was real. The grass reminded her of the park she frequented, not ever really on a good basis, she was starting to hate it.

The sky wasn't blue. She realized with a start. Her feet were resting in the sand while her butt was on the grass and the blue water licked her feet as it came towards her and then away. The sky touched the water, hardly distinguishable as it seemed to join. The sky was a dark purple as if it was night with no stars or the moon.

But she could see everything as if they were lit directly but there was no source to the light. The world twisted around her again and she was in a building, there was a smoothie sitting in front of her and her hand was around the straw as her bottom lip brushed the tip. Her tongue retracted in shock. What kind of rabbit hole had she fallen through? Her hand moved away from the smoothie as if it burned even though it was cold to the touch. It was like she was Alice in Wonderland, nothing was making sense to her.

She pushed away from the counter, her chair rocked over and made a crash that scared her to the core. She turned towards the exit and as she reached the door the world settled again. This time she was someplace she didn't recognize. The ground below her was white, as if she was on a pure sand but it was hard, concrete almost but dusty. She willed the world to change again, but it didn't. She touched the ground, she ran around for a different idea, this place gave her the chills, as if she'd been here before, but nothing happened. It would not change for her, nor would it change again. She stopped running and got a look of what was around her, maybe her unconscious was trying to tell her something.

Serena pushed back a blond lock and lifted her chin. In front of her was a ruined palace, strangely reminiscent of the mausoleum Taj Mahal. A tall woman, regal looking in dress and posture left the grounds of the broken down palace. Reaching out a hand towards Serena, she came forward.

It hit Serena that the feet were pale like her in the winter, a creamy alabaster encased in silver shoes. The dress the woman wore covered her ankles but it didn't brush the ground. Her dress was a muted green, almost of a mint origin. It was of silk material and it hugged her curves, over her hips, slim waist and rounded bust. The arms were the same color as her feet and on the wrist of the outstretched hand was a silver bracelet with matching green cat-eye beads. It was a very cool look, distant and regal, meant to warn off people who may dare to come too close. It was at odds with the beckoning that invited Serena to come close, to even touch the woman.

A figure dropped down next to Serena, scaring her. Serena turned her head and caught sight of another tall woman, dressed in a deep purple dress and carrying a staff. Orchid eyes sought hers and Serena felt a calm hit her after her startled reaction. The purple tresses of the woman reached her hips. She swung the staff, and Serena's momentary reassurance evaporated in the fear that maybe she made a mistake.

The staff never reached her, it cut off the assent of the other woman from nearing Serena. Serena's head snapped from one woman to the other and back again.

A light started to shine over head, the sun was rising in this disserted place.

The hand that was still outstretched towards Serena, beckoned again, moving the fingers towards the owner in a rapid recession. Serena slowly looked between the two women, her eyes slowly moving towards the face of the one that invited her. Jade eyes stared out beneath a mane of expertly coiffed blood hair. A shudder went through Serena as she locked eyes with the woman, her body turned cold, beneath the outward appearance of pleasantry, lied a deviousness and hatred that Serena never experienced towards herself before. It was an unnatural feeling, one she hoped to never repeat.

Serena turned towards the other woman, and she nodded.

Serena turned around and tried to go back to where she came from but every step she took seemed to be matched by the world moving the other way so she could go no further, and stayed in one place.

Serena turned back towards the red haired woman, maybe she was supposed to take the woman's hand and see where it lead her. Serena touched the staff. It moved away when Serena released it.

A word was whispered on the wind, catching Serena's attention. Her head perked up and she looked around. The light was blinding her now as it grew and she had to look away. The woman's hand was still out-stretched but she did not come closer, well aware of the other woman.

"Go towards the light."

Serena looked to the woman that spoke, but she looked like she hadn't moved, her staff by her side and watching the interaction between Serena and the scary one.

"Isn't it a bad thing to go towards the light? Isn't that death?" Her tone was smart-alecky and no-nonsense.

"Serena, bloody hell." A female voice swore and she knew it didn't come from any of these strangers.

"Serena just come back!" Another voice shouted, and Serena was now aware of what the tingling sensation she had barely felt earlier was, it was voices wanting to be heard.

A warm presence came with the light. "Why would I go towards the light?" Serena asked the kinder looking woman. "I would rather live."

The orchid eyes looked slowly from Serena to the light and lowered her head to show Serena that it was what she suggested.

Serena's eyes swung towards the redhead and an evil smirk crossed her features and outstretched her hand once more.

Serena turned and took a running jump towards the light. She vaguely recognized both women's mouths moving and all she heard as the light assaulted her from all directions was a single word. _Princess_.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
_ "'So... your adventures are over.'  
'Oh, no. To live... to live would be an awfully big adventure.'"  
-Wendy & Peter_

Serena groaned as the warmth that she felt finally made sense. Her blood was gushing out of her shoulder and covering her entire right side even though there was a firm pressure on it to try and stop the bleeding. The rest of the warmth came from the cape wrapped around her body.

Hands were on her hands and feet, rubbing them trying to get the blood to flow again and warm her up. It was working as the blood came rushing back into the limbs, burning in its path through her veins. She was surrounded by light and when she opened her eyes, the sun was directly above her as she lay on the unyielding concrete of the roof of the building they had fled to, to escape the paparazzi even though it was dangerous to move Serena. All she could see momentarily was the sun and then the bright spots in her eyes as she tried to blink them away. The world was still spinning around her and the moment she managed to get a grip on one image it swirled around again until she found another focal point. Over and over again this happened and eventually she gave up and closed her eyes.

"Don't you dare go away again." Rei's voice caught her attention, and the demand was harsh, and nagging as it was when she was telling Serena off for falling asleep at a meeting or being late or not doing her homework or getting detention. Boy that girl nagged, and Serena told her so. It elicited a laugh from Rei.

"Mars, leave her alone, didn't you see her eyes when she opened them? They were swimming." Mina's voice nestled into her consciousness and the voice of her princess was reassuring and Serena opened her eyes a peak to see where Mina was, Mina noticed and squeezed her hand.

"I need you to continue talking if you can't keep your eyes open." Ami said next to her, she was the one keeping pressure on the bleeding wound.

Serena nodded then groaned when it crashed into her skull a blinding pain that whipped out all of the other images. Her eyes squeezed shut and she breathed deeply.

"Kamen, I need you to take my place of putting pressure, if she keeps loosing blood, we may loose her yet, even though she finally regained consciousness."

"What?" Serena's eyes refused to open again as they fused shut by lack of motor cooperation.

Her tone was desperate enough that Ami's attention was caught. "What?" Ami echoed softly.

"How long have I been out?" Serena had to know.

Ami checked the clock on her monitor and answered. "About a half an hour."

"And bleeding the entire time?"

"No. The bleeding started about ten minutes ago because it finally broke through the blockage." Ami explained, she sounded more concerned than she did a minute ago after the relief that Serena was finally awake. The fact that Serena was having trouble opening her eyes was a daunting fact. Ami had set her computer to monitor Serena the whole time while she was trying to stem the blood flow and kept glancing at the screen to see its progress.

Now she was frantically typing away, Serena could tell by the quick clicks on the keyboard and the mouse pad. Serena managed to work one eye open again and looked at Tuxedo Kamen. She didn't know why his name was Japanese, he spoke flawless English, but Ami and Rei had Japanese names because they had Japanese origins. Maybe in real life he was part Japanese? Serena's thoughts were swirling she was thinking such random, unimportant thoughts. However in the back of her mind she was still remembering everything in her unconscious moments as she decided between taking the woman's hand and jumping into the light even though every story she heard was to stay away from the light because if she went into it she was giving up.

She trusted her instincts but she wondered who the two women were if they were real and if they weren't, were they her version of god and the devil? But then why would god want her to return to life on Earth and let her chose only between it and the devil, why not the third choice, heaven? Serena didn't believe that they were the entities of good and bad. Just a guardian and a person who she knew but didn't.

"Kamen." She muttered and remembered, she did know him in real life, he knew her as well. They knew each other too well.

"Kami Sailor Moon." He moaned and held her still as the blood continued to flow. Tiny sparks etched from his fingers into her shoulder, only she seemed to see it, something about her daze, she guessed, but it flew right into it, from his grip. Her tissues were repairing themselves with his help. Ami gasped as she noticed on her computer what she could not see.

"Kamen, how?"

He groaned and pulled his hands away as if scorched, Serena could feel the heat, but it was pleasant. She stopped bleeding everywhere but soon she passed out again, she could not fight it, her body needed the sleep.

This time however she just fell into darkness, no dreams or fear, just recuperative sleep.

She heard Kamen say to Ami before it claimed her though, "I don't know." He sounded so unsure, so shocked that Serena's heart went out to him. She hated hearing him so lost.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome."- Isaac Asimov_

The remaining senshi were mystified by what transpired between Kamen, Ami and Serena. The first thing they knew was that Serena was healing then Ami was asking Kamen how he was doing it. They hadn't realized Serena was being helped, and the fact that Kamen was the helper, that surprised all of them. How did he do it? Wasn't Mina the princess, and didn't she have healing powers? But then again, she hadn't had her crystal yet. Maybe she needed it to unleash her powers and once she did, she'd be stronger than Serena and even stronger than she already was. Mina had amazing powers and leadership capability but even though she could defeat a youma on her own where the rest of them could not, she usually had Serena finish off the monsters.

They picked Serena up and carried her back to the temple, a sacred ground, that nobody would question, even if they did know the miko personally. Tuxedo Kamen had disappeared the second Serena was out of the woods, or at least as much as he figured she was. He didn't want to stick around to be harassed, besides it would be easier to be concerned and not cornered as Darien Chiba, hot best friend to one Serena Grant.

How he'd swing going to the temple to look for her, and why? He'd cross that bridge when he came to it. He watched as the girls consciously made sure not to disrupt Serena as much as they could made their way across the city.

Once they were out of sight, he shuddered, the emotions finally racking through him as he leaned against the wall, alone and away from prying eyes. His disguise dropped and in his normal form he slid down the wall to the ground uncaringly of the dirt that was most likely on his back side. Tears stung his eyes but he did not let them fall. Shudders racked his body however and he was taken over in a moment of despair. It had been far too close a call, his little Serena had almost caved into the pressures of the dark side and drifted off into a deadly peace. If it hadn't been for his unknown powers she'd still be warding off the evils that wanted to wreak havoc onto her person.

He was weak, he was supposed to protect her, it had been his duty before he had even found out that she was his Serena. Hell, it had been his duty even _before_ there was a Sailor Moon. She may not have been the princess he'd dreamed about at night, those dreams hadn't stopped even with the arrival of the princess, and it made him question the validity of Mina's claim but he didn't have the right circumstances to question out loud. However, he felt drawn to Serena's other personality in a desire and a calling to protect her from harm. He had been too late today.

Zoicite had grabbed her from behind, his arms sliding under her armpits and hands gripping the back of her neck as Malachite sent down a torrential of attacks at her. They had ignored Mina, the princess they were supposed to fear would destroy them and attacked the old leader. Old feelings and grudges, Darien figured with a grimace as they attacked her out right and constantly. Serena had been so beaten up from just that shower of pain that when Kamen, the only one who could safely throw an attack without fearing the repercussions of hitting Serena, had hit Zoicite in the back with his rose and Malachite in his hand and they released Serena that she could barely stand without swaying dangerously.

Zoicite got in an unseeing attack straight into Serena's shoulder and she went flying into a lamppost with a velocity that surprised everyone. She hit her head, and most likely gained a concussion from it.

The generals disappeared as the rest of the senshi swarmed upon them, now that Serena was out of harm's way and in Kamen's arms. None of them would admit it but they trusted Serena in his arms, knowing he would protect her even if they distrusted him enough to keep them apart. They didn't know however that Kamen was their sempai in real life, the elder they deterred to, the one they trusted and listened to.

They hadn't realized they said Serena as they tried to awaken her, at least not in his presence, but they had and Kamen ignored the drop in secrecy, if he could, he would have as well, just to pull her out of it.

He breathed deeply to calm his nerves and rubbed his eyes, he'd better see to Serena, to appease his restless spirit if nothing else. He stood and dusted himself off and went into a different alley that housed his motorcycle. Darien mounted it and rushed off towards the temple he knew they would have taken her.

As he parked his vehicle he got out and was greeted by Chad, the strange rock singer who was working the grounds even though Rei often had his head for the slightest thing out of place. Chad was a little testy towards Darien, and he understood why. Chad had a crush on Rei and Rei had a crush on Darien, one he didn't return and tried telling her gently several times over the past year, but she would not listen, at least yet, someday maybe she'd open her eyes and understand.

"Is Serena here?" Darien asked the shaggy haired man and he peered under the long mop at Darien and grinned. Darien always felt he was more receptive than people gave him credit for. He did after all sing, he had to have at least a little bit of an artist sensitivity.

"Yeah, they were here earlier, they went into a room near the back of the temple and were really loud for a while then they were really quiet. I walked by a few minutes ago and I knocked and Lita answered, clearly blocking me out of whatever they were doing. Maybe you'll have better luck, you actually being friends with them and all."

Darien nodded and clasped Chad on the shoulder. "You are a good man." He said as he walked away. Chad respected Darien even if sometimes he got irritated when he didn't get anywhere with Rei.

Darien knocked on the door and Rei was the one that answered it, she was still looking behind her and talking as the door creaked open so as she changed audiences, she didn't realize it was him. "I thought Lita told you to stay out of here, that we don't need anything and to butt out because nothing pertains to you in here."

Rei lifted her eyes from the usually clad cream burlap chest of the rock singer to the face because for one, it was higher than it should have been and for two, he wasn't wearing his usual fashion of hippie meets rock, but rather a nice blue polo shirt. Rei gulped. "I am so sorry Darien."

"I'm sure Lita didn't say all that, or at least like that, if she had it wouldn't have been so insulting but rather more scary in the menacing way of physical violence, although you have that covered as well."

He was so stoic as he said it that Rei felt insurmountable amount of guilt, even though she hadn't meant to direct it towards him. She felt that she should go and apologize to Chad for everything she'd said in the past and the pain she inflicted upon him.

Lita curious to see what was taking Rei so long sidled up to the door and leaned against the jam next to her friend. "Whacha want Dare?" Lita wasn't the type to have charm sway her feelings and decisions or at least a lot less than Rei was and she didn't budge for anybody save Serena and now these girls, sometimes. She also had problem with authority and so she was prone to back talking and making demands first.

Darien tried to see around them and glanced at Ami sitting calmly at a desk with her feet propped up onto it and slowly turning the pages of a book. He felt anger grow towards the small girl, she was supposed to be watching over his Serena, and instead she was reading a book? His vision was blocked as Lita stood up straighter. "What do you want Darien?"

"I was looking for Serena." He answered finally, he knew he had to play it cool to get past the two goons blocking him from his friend.

"She's-"

"I know she's here, Chad confirmed it just a few seconds ago when I ran into him outside." Darien cut whatever Rei was going to say off.

There was a soft moan that wouldn't have been audible to human ears but Darien had been hearing her hardly noticeable noises for such a long time he wasn't sure if it was instinct or his supernatural abilities.

The girls congesting the doorways turned towards the noise and it gave Darien the perfect opportunity to push through. What he say wasn't as bad as he had feared. Serena was lying in bed but the covering she had over her consisted of a sheet and a heavy blanket, despite the warmer temperatures these last few days, it was after-all still winter.

He turned accusing eyes towards the girls, at least they were keeping her warm, that was the first thing to be assured of when someone had lost a lot of blood.

"She's sleeping, she fell asleep earlier, that's what I was going to say before you so rudely cut me off." Rei snipped, and then looked mortified at her reproach. "Sorry." She mumbled.

"Why are you looking for her?" Lita asked suddenly suspicious, she liked Darien, she liked him as a person a lot, especially since the sun rose and set by him in Usagi's eyes, but he was still a male, and too close to Usagi and well, Lita didn't trust easy.

"Perhaps he's discovered his love for our dear friend." Ami mused to herself.

"Where's Mina?" Darien ignored the out of place comment, Ami was known for her sly mischievousness, given that she was the descendent of Mercury and all of that.

"Right behind you silly." Her accent a bit too thick recently, but charming none-the-less.

Darien turned and nodded, he had to give Mina her due, she was marvelous at unplanned entries.

"Hi." Mina smiled when his eyes caught hers, and the blue eyes were vague reminders of Serena's, the fact that both were light in the color blue. She seemed to blush when his penetrating gaze landed on her, and knew he was trying to crack the 'dumb' blond into telling the truth or a lie so fallible that he would have to believe the opposite. Mina though wasn't just a dumb blond. At least when it came to the senshi business and Darien would learn that soon enough, but for now, she'd be his most difficult rival, mainly because he didn't understand.

"Why I came?" Mamoru asked, an uneasy feeling spreading through him at Mina's warm reception. He was used to the other three girls' antics, they'd be holding them for a long time, and he'd gotten to know them after almost a year of senshi business and in this life as well. Mina was the newest addition and she'd only been around for a few weeks, how the girls trusted her, he had to question as well. She'd been masquerading as Sailor V long before Sailor Moon was introduced into the battlefield and just claimed she was the princess, the only thing to back that claim was a crescent moon on her forehead and a weird sailor outfit, different than V's but not the same as the rest either, in the claim that it was because she wasn't supposed to fight, but even so, she did because she couldn't let her senshi go to battle and sit on the sidelines like a princess. It didn't fit her, she'd said.

Perhaps it was because after the dreams leading up to the arrival of the princess, that when she did come, he was disappointed. It wasn't that she wasn't a great battle mind, but rather because she had seemed so distant, and not as regal even if she was dedicated and powerful. Though to be honest, she did possess strong leader qualities and she could very well be the real princess, but then he knew his feelings were only for her past self and not the present one, hence he could safely say that if he ever fell in love, it was because he really did love the person, and not his old self.

He didn't know how he knew about his past life, when even Luna was confused whether or not to trust Tuxedo Kamen, but he knew he was on the moon kingdom, why else would the Moon Princess beseech him for his help. What got him though was that his dreams hadn't ended with the arrival of Mina, adding weight to his suspicions, he was just cautious to know if she was one of them and pretending to be the moon princess for a good reason or if she was part of the dark kingdom trying to pull the wool over their eyes in hopes that she can plan an attack that would be when they were most vulnerable.

Serena knew his identity even when her senshi didn't, he thought it was best, and he would have hidden it even from her, but it was Serena and she figured it out shortly before he figured out hers. By then, it was too late for lies and deception. She didn't know everything, but he had a feeling that she had a hunch or an inkling on what he was hiding. She was his voice of representation within the senshi, always believing in him even before she knew who he really was, but now she knew and was twice as vocal in her support but never once did she let slip that she knew him. That's what made Darien particularly found of the girl, she didn't always know the reasoning behind things but she'd stick up for what and whom she believed in.

He didn't know what he was in the past, but he figured he was a knight or guard to the princess, and had a crush on her, but from what he could gather, almost every male in the past loved her. It made sense for Mina to be the princess, he guessed, all the men hung on her every bubbly word when she was around. However their attention became divided when Serena entered the room.

Much to the annoyance of Darien sometimes, because usually he was with her when she entered the room and they'd be talking when guys would come up periodically, interrupting their conversation to ask a question about their 'combined' homework, or just to say hi or other things, usually nice and polite, but it still distracted Serena enough that it took a moment to get the conversation back on track and then they'd get a little further and somebody else would come up. Darien wasn't blind, he knew girls fawned over him but they were a little more shy to come up and just hold a general chat.

Beyond that though, Darien right now was more worried about his Serena than he was about Mina's antics. He turned back to the girl on the bed.

"You just repeated the question." Rei mumbled, well aware of what her temper got her.

"I'm here to bring her home, Ilene called me to pick her daughter up because it's going to get really dark and she'd feel better if I went with her. Besides, you were on my way, because I was going to eat dinner over there anyway."

"You live next door to her." Ami muttered as she turned the page and Darien realized that she wasn't reading it, not that she was turning the pages at a different speed than normal, but her eyes were practically glued on Serena, monitoring her progress, and his anger towards her dissolved. She was just putting on a show for him.

"I was joking." Darien responded. He lounged towards Serena and sat on the bed next to her, his hand brushing her cheek and then moved lower to grip her uninjured shoulder and shook her a little, she should be healed enough to awaken, if not a little groggy, and he suddenly realized how irrational he'd been since her injuries first occurred. He'd been calling her 'my' Serena, it was slightly over possessive, and they were best friends, grew up together, nothing else. Also realizing he should have stopped back at home to pick up his car, a distressed and out of it Serena on a bike may be slightly difficult.

Serena's eyes flickered open and he was glad to see that both pupils were the same size, he wasn't a doctor, but picking up a few key symptoms was key to living in his kind of life.

She seemed to focus and realize who it was, she gave him a reassuring smile before closing her eyes again. He couldn't have it, she needed to stay awake so he shook her again. The other girls were knowledgeable of what happened and wanted to put an end to his shaking but he ignored them.

Serena's eyes opened again and she batted away his hand. "Go 'way, 'rien." She mumbled and turned the other way, and bit out a gasp when her sore arm encountered the bed. Darien ignored the cause and instead scooped her up.

"You're coming with me Serena, mama's waiting for you at home, remember dinner? Food? Yum, yum?"

"I'm not hungry." She tried to struggle in his arms, if not to be returned to the nice and warm bed, then at least more comfortable in his arms so she could sleep some more.

"When have you ever not wanted food?" He teased as he set her onto her feet and looked at her. He shook his head, she was only wearing a long sleeve t-shirt and jeans. "Where is your coat?"

"Here." Rei offered it up, Lita brought over Serena's book bag. "Be careful with her, sometimes people wake up disoriented."

"I'll be extra nice, don't worry so much, and thank you Rei, for caring."

"About that brat?" Rei huffed. "As if, I was just mentioning it to you incase she took a swing in your direction, thinking you were a snake."

"She'd have been running if that were the case." Lita laughed.

"Thank you both for your concern." Serena seemed to get her bearing a little bit more and stuck out a pink tongue at the two of them. Rei's darted out momentarily before she smiled charmingly at Darien.

Mina only watched the session, she was well aware of everything, easy to pick up on after only a few weeks, but sometimes, like today some of the players surprised her, including Darien.

Serena struggled into her coat with Darien's help and he zipped it for her, the zipper nestled at her chin with it all the way closed, although Serena clawed at it to loosen it, it was not how she normally had it, and it wasn't fashionable that way. Darien pulled her hands away and kissed the back of each and she stopped struggling. He took the messenger bag and weaved it over his shoulder so it crossed his chest. He lead Serena outside of the temple and to his bike, he deposited her in front and climbed on behind her.

He waved to the girls as they drove off, Serena leaning back into his warmth and effectively passed out again.

"Who believed the bullshit he spewed us?" Lita asked when he was out of sight.

Ami raised her hand mockingly and all of them laughed.

EAN: There's something I should probably clarify before you go on. I've made a lot of the characters _slightly _ooc, but that's because I decided Mercury was going to be more like her name sake and Serena needs a bit more of a backbone than the anime makes her have. You'll discover a few other key differences in location later on, and parts of the location will have an effect on the character's personality because as you'll soon discover they're not American and American's have a tendency to be more blunt and straightforward compared to say the Japanese or even to the English. Different cultures aren't that dissimilar than we are but there are a few underlaying personality quirks that are noticable when you take a strong character out of each context and put them together, the differences are personified.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_"What lies in front of us and what lies behind us are small things compared to what lies within us."_

_-R.F.Fb_

Darien managed to keep both of them safe on the way back. He stopped the bike at his house and put it into the garage and swooped Serena up. He went around to the back and making sure nobody was around, then jumped up into the porch outside his room, facing Serena's porch. They used to sit out on them and talk all night long without their parents' knowledge, although they probably knew, seeing their kids exhausted the next day, simultaneously, whereas others they'd be fine.

He went through his room into his private bathroom and turned the faucet to cold water. When it was icy temperatures he held back Serena's hair and dunked her head into the pool of water gathering due to the plug at the bottom of the basin.

Her shriek of shock only echoed around his empty house, his parents were already next door. The Grants didn't pay attention to the weird noises coming from Darien's home.

The back of her hand connected sharply with his cheek. Her intention was purely instinct after the shock she'd gotten, but the slap was definitely a wake up sting that if he'd been in a fog, it'd have cleared as if a tornado had come through.

Her cringe and agony that she had bitch-slapped him came at once and the tears in her eyes was enough of an apology than the words she managed to blubber.

He tugged her into a hug, crushing her against him. "It's all right." He soothed, his hand petting her head and the other her back. "I don't blame you for that, it was my own fault. I had to wake you up though."

When she pulled away there was an impression of her wet face in his shirt and said face was now completely dry. She giggled as she prodded the wet image. He caught her hand and kissed the back again, it must have stung when she hit him, and he soothed the tormented skin.

"I'm sorry." Serena said.

"Don't be, I deserve it, as I said."

"No, I am sorry for that, I shouldn't have hit you, it just happened, but I'm sorry for earlier, for being passed out."

"It isn't your fault, that either. The damned generals will pay for what they did to you." Darien promised, if he ever got the chance, Zoicite would be one dead pulp.

Not to mention Kunzite, but he was a different matter all together.

"I-" Serena paused, should she tell him about her dream, not dream? She could usually tell him everything, senshi business or no. But this felt different, like she needed to discuss it with her senshi, if she could. Something about her nightmare warned her that it had been something she needed to handle, that it directly involved her, but it didn't say whether or not she could receive any help. "Never mind." She voiced out loud. She'd deal with it on her own, at least for a little while, and once she got a grasp on it, and could articulate what she wanted, then she'd bring it to the attention of the others.

She changed tactics, her energy returned, at least for now, and jumped. "Come on, I'm starving, lets go home and get some food!"

Darien chuckled and let her lead him down the stairs and out of his house and onto her driveway before entering her home via the front door.

It wouldn't have made any sense for either of them to come from upstairs and down into the living room where no doubt Serena's mother was entertaining Darien's mother. Considering Serena had been out all day and there was no possible way for her to sneak back in when her parents were awake. Their fathers were no doubt downstairs playing pool with her brother joining in every once and a while to pick up the slack while one of the men got distracted by the soccer game that was playing on TV.

"Do you think the Crowns are here?" Serena asked as she opened the porch's door and Darien walked through first while she held it open. He thought as he walked towards the door so similar to his own, yet it wasn't his, and yet even still it was, because he was part of her family as she was part of his.

Darien knew of her crush on the other friend they both shared for quite some time, but she never acted like she had one and she never acted on it. He opened the front door that lead into the foyer and shrugged. "Only one way to find out." She walked through as he held it open and together they headed to the living room, where Mrs. Grant was indeed entertaining Mrs. Chiba and Mrs. Crown, Eliza was no where to be seen.

"Ah, Darien, Serena, welcome. I was wondering if you'd grace us with your presence." Mrs. Grant teased, both of Serena's parents has a sense of humor that wouldn't quit and that is exactly where Serena got her personality from, to an extent.

"We drove his motorcycle back, mother, from Rei's, which I told you I may have been for an extended period of time. Unfortunately we hit a water puddle and I got sprayed in the face. Do you mind ladies if I go take a shower to freshen up?"

"Not at all dear." Mrs. Chiba answered for them. Her vibrant blue eyes the same shade as Darien's but her hair was a burnt orange almost auburn tint, almost blond.

Serena nodded her head and left them with a smile as she parried on her toes and mounted the stairs off to the side.

"I suppose I better head down stairs and join the men in their pool game and cheering of the Sydney team." Darien smiled and took his leave. Serena would be fine without his presence and by the time she finished her shower it'd be time for dinner. Not that she couldn't take short shower, but she hated being left alone with the three married women without the relief of Eliza to accompany her. So she'd take a unusually long shower and then take a long time getting ready.

When Darien got downstairs he discovered that Eliza was downstairs watching the game with the guys. Every once in a while the girls would join them, enjoying their company just as much if not more than their mothers. It was the start of the soccer season so it made sense for her to be curious about the potential for this year. "Hey Lizzy, what's the score?" Darien asked sinking down onto the couch next to her as she played solitaire cards.

"Sydney 2, Brisbane 1." She answered and then greeted him politely. "Is Serena around?" She finally asked, noticing the daughter of the house was not here yet.

"She's gone to take a shower. I don't think she'll be done until dinner."

Lizzy sighed, Lizzy was her nickname, Eliza to her sounded so stuffy. "All right, I guess I better head up there soon and tell her I'm here, so she'll get done faster."

"Yeah." Darien agreed half-heartedly, part of him didn't want her hanging out before dinner, taking as much time to reorient herself as possible, and the other half knew she'd be sad that she missed this gathering, even though they had it once a month. The whole family, the rest of them got together quite frequently.

It was also better if Lizzy went up there, it would not do to have people questioning his motives when there was so many around. Although he did want to get a look at the wound on her shoulder to see how much more it needed to heal and if medical attention was still needed.

Part of him felt that Serena would tell him if there was something wrong and part of her was secretive when it came to injuries. He could not blame her, he was the same way but she always seemed to know that there was something wrong. She was stronger than most people gave her credit for, she only complained when it was a surface wound, she didn't even squeak when it was more serious.

"Hey Andy!" He greeted when the man was no longer concentrating on his shot. "Mr. Crown, Mr. Grant, father, Sammy." He greeted the other men, and almost brother.

"Hey Darien." Was the common response from the males.

Sammy took it a bit farther, seeing that there were already four males playing pool at the current game and jumped the couch and landed next to Darien on the other side, leaving enough room for another person however. "Where's the Meatball head?"

"I don't know Spaghetti Brains, where do you think your sister is?" Darien asked affectionately. He didn't mind that Sammy called her that, they all had nicknames for each other that were half insults and half endearments.

"Out stuffing her face?"

"Now why do you think that Sammy?" Lizzy cut in. "When she can be here stuffing her face with a nice home cooked meal." Lizzy's defense of her older friend was littered with vague insults but she didn't mean it that way and nobody who knew her would think she was being mean.

"I guess. So where is she?" Sammy asked.

"Taking a shower."

"Oh." Sammy froze for a moment and then his eyes widened. "Uh-oh." He moaned and buried his head into his hands for a moment before he shot out of the basement and upstairs. Darien shrugged when Lizzy looked at him and Darien looked around the room. "Want to play foosball?" He asked, seeing nobody was bothering with the nice set up Ken had bought for Sammy one day.

"Sure." Lizzy and Darien jumped up and raced to the table and played a few games.

Serena was just rinsing out her hair, and they were shut as her head dunked under the water to get the last bit of conditioner out of it. The shower's radio was playing so she didn't hear the knocking on the door. Well, it was more of a pounding but Serena didn't hear it and when she turned off the taps and the radio, she finally heard it. She slid on her robe, her shoulder was still a little stiff but she didn't pay any heed to it. She wrapped her hair into a towel and opened the door. Sammy was standing in front of her.

"Oh good." He breathed a sigh of relief when she was just looking at him with a mild annoyance.

"What did you want?" She demanded rubbing her head so she didn't have to dry her hair as much later.

"Um… I guess…" His mind raced, obviously, thank goodness, she didn't decide on using the one shampoo today, he had been hoping that she'd take a morning shower as usual and for her to do it tomorrow, but luckily she used a different brand today, otherwise she'd be screeching her head off at him. "I wanted to tell you that Lizzy is here, she's downstairs playing a game with the dork."

Serena's top lip was pulled into the confines between her two teeth and her tongue touched it while she was contemplating on laughing out loud or keeping this for a fond giggle in her head. She kept it in. "All right, thank you Sammy." She mused his hair and he backed away with a 'don't' whine and straightened it.

Serena headed into her room to get dressed and to dry her hair. Now that she knew Lizzy was here, she'd stick to the bare minimum. As soon as Serena undid her towel around her head she screamed.

The bathroom mirror was foggy due to the warm condensation, in her room, she had a clear sight of exactly what Sammy had been trying to stop her from doing today. Because today, he'd get into a lot more trouble than he would had she fell for it when there wasn't company. Her scream echoed through the whole house, shaking the door.

Sammy winced and then took off down the stairs as his mother came up the stairs with his father running behind him, and Darien not much farther behind him. Ilene seeing her son's decent when her daughter had just screamed bloody murder grabbed him by the ear and dragged him back up the stairs while the rest of the company sat where they were thoroughly confused, though they should be used to their children's antics. Andrew and Lizzy casually strolled behind the more concerned members of the family, if it was emergency, they'd soon find out what the problem was and then deal with it if it was something bad.

There was no use bottlenecking her door if she was in trouble, the others would be having that issue without two more people clogging it.

Ilene opened the door and discovered exactly what was wrong with her daughter. Instead of comforting her, she turned to her son and boxed his ears. "What the hell is wrong with you? Can't you leave your sister alone for one day? The day when I have friends over? Why did you have to embarrass all of us when all I wanted was a nice dinner and conversation?"

By then the other two men reached the room, it hadn't been a blood curtling scream as Darien heard once when she was facing a youma alone, but that situation almost had him revisiting his lunch so he could understand the scream. This one wasn't nearly as bad so he let Ken get there first. His house, his daughter. However Darien was a step behind by the time they reached the situation.

Serena was just standing there mumbling as she ringed her hair and Ilene was taking out her anger in a not very violent way with her son. It would have been hilarious had Serena not been so distressed.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Ken asked his son, and Ilene stopped ranting at him to hear his answer.

"At least you don't have any business associates here?" Sammy asked glumly, knowing it wasn't the right thing to say but didn't feel right apologizing quite yet, he did a better one when they were alone anyways.

Ilene shrieked in frustration and threw her hands up in the air, she marched out of the room and Ken followed, dragging Sammy by the ear and got grounded for long enough that by the time he got out it, he'd have gray hair.

Darien just blinked at Serena. Her blue eyes looked up at him and seemed to realize that he was standing there, looking at her with something akin to horror.

Serena bawled and collapsed in a heap as she tried pulling her hair out of her head. Lizzy and Andrew took one look at the situation and Lizzy instantly went to Serena's side and tried to sooth her with a calming, reassuring voice that everything would be all right and go back to normal, they'd find a way.

Andrew grabbed Darien's arm and dragged him out of Serena's room. Serena's robe was loosening and neither one needed to see it. Lizzy grabbed Serena's towel and rubbed at Serena's hair, hoping to see if it'd come out by pressure and friction alone.

It didn't even stain the towel.

"Oh dear." Lizzy couldn't stop the slight admittance of unsure reaction. Serena's curelean blue eyes blinked up at her, beneath the plum wine color fringe. It was such an interesting look, that Lizzy knew exactly why Darien had just stared at her, the colors were so similar but it was different enough to drag attention to her gorgeous blue eyes, but the hair was slightly red in tint but definitely a bluish purple as well. It was so hard to describe. Lizzy took a deep breath and confronted the main issue. "We have to find out what Sammy used."

Serena looked at Lizzy and then nodded. "All right, just let me get dressed, and then do my hair, we'll tackle Sammy later."

Lizzy sank onto the bed as Serena struggled to get dressed, Lizzy and Serena had sleepovers so often growing up that they were comfortable changing in front of each other. Once Serena had her underwear and jeans on, she let the robe drop and hung it up so the only thing she still had to don was her shirt over her bra.

Lizzy's gasp had Serena turning around to look at her and ask. "What is wrong?" Serena looked at the bed and around the room but she didn't see anything the matter.

Lizzy pointed at her shoulder. Serena ran to the mirror and looked it in, on both sides of her shoulder was a size shape the size of her fist the combined color of her hair and eyes in an interesting pattern. It didn't really look like a bruise but that was the excuse she used for Lizzy. "Oh. I had forgotten about that. It doesn't hurt or anything." That was a blatant lie, it didn't hurt like it did when it was inflicted, but it was a niggling pain that hurt more when she moved her arm. She had thought it was the side effect, sort of psychological pain than actually physical. "I ran into a pole that was sticking out in the street, you know me, certified klutz."

"Why was there a random pole in the middle of the street?" Lizzy asked suspiciously.

"It was a construction sight." Serna lied. "They were putting in a new building. I'm not quite sure where I was in the city, so I couldn't tell you to even watch out for it yourself." Serena shrugged and managed to hide the wince from Lizzy's concerned gaze.

"And the back bruise?"

"I fell into a door knob." Serena told her and looked for a shirt. She found a white soft cotton long sleeved button up tee-shirt and slipped it on. She did up the buttons and turned to Lizzy. "Ready to go eat?" Usagi asked as she pulled her hair back to a simple pony-tail.

Lizzy frowned. "Why aren't you doing your hair in your trade-mark style?"

"Can't I change my routine at all? Maybe I want to just pull it back." Serena told her friend.

"All right." Lizzy sighed. "Let's go eat!" She brightened and dragged Serena from the room, which wasn't all that unusual with the two of them. Lizzy could rival Serena for her appetite sometimes.

Lizzy and Serena raced to the dinning room and slid on the hard wood floors, they took their rightful places next to each other, with their brothers next to them and Darien next to Andrew with both sets of parents on the other side of the table and the Grants on the ends. Once everybody got a significant other, the whole table would be more even. But that would be a while considering Ken didn't like Serena dating.

"So who won the game?" Serena asked Mr. Crown.

"Sydney."

Serena nodded with a huge smile. "What does that mean for Canberra?"

"They are in a close second for the Australian stint. I can't wait for the Nationals to start when Sydney and Caberra play Germany and Brazil."

"America isn't coming this year?"

"After last year's wailing?" Mr. Crown asked astonished. "If they manage to show up, they better have a trick up their sleeves."

"I don't know, the East coast had some promising players leaving the college, they may have some good turn around yet."

"Who are you cheering for Serena?"

"Why France, I thought you knew." She teased. At Mr. Chiba and Mr. Crown's sputtering outcry, she laughed. "I'm kidding, Brazil is a very good team. Italy won last year. Although England does have a very nice outputting, Beckman is a very good player. But I guess I have to vote for my national teams if they'll go national, but Sydney's my favorite in Australia."

"Second favorite?"

"I don't know, it makes me mad that Rhys went to Ireland. But my second would have to be Perth."

"Makes sense."

"Excuse me a moment." Serena apologized and snapped her head at Darien. "_What?_"

Darien could tell she was exasperated but he just blinked at her before finding his voice. "It's_ purple!_"

"Yes, and it's the brat's fault." As she spoke her hand hit her brother in the shoulder which he responded with _'Hey!'_ Serena ignored him. "Once I figure out how to go back to blond, I'm going to, now get over it!"

"Geez, testy today aren't we." He teased and then returned to his plate for a bite.

"Well, now that my son's not staring at you anymore, would you like to continue our football talk or a different sport, my dear?"

"Hockey, the g'ol' Western sport of the North." Serena teased and Serena's mother cut in with the newest releases of Hollywood, nearly two months after they were out in theaters in America. Ilene was tired of the sports talk and wanted to introduce a little culture. All the girls jumped onto the discussion and Ken added his input every once in a while. The rest of the males liked movies but declined to say anything.

The rest of dinner went by smoothly and everybody left in a few hours.

That night before Serena could slip into bed, Sammy knocked on the door before letting himself in. "I'm sorry about when the hair dye disaster happened, I hadn't meant for it to happen today."

Serena brushed off the somewhat apology. "What I want to know is when it's going to come out." When Sammy bit his lip she grabbed him by the collar, suddenly very frightened. "It comes out right? I don't have to redye it or worse, cut it all off?"

Sammy smiled reluctantly. "I'm pretty sure the one I grabbed was the one that said it'd come out after two weeks or twenty washes, which ever came first."

"Two weeks?" Serena screeched and kicked him out of her room. "You better watch your back little brother, or else you'll be in for the shock of your life!"

"But Serena-!" The door slammed in his face, cutting off his plead.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. _

_Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." _

_- B.A.Fb _

I'll tell you when it ends, but the next few chapters quotes are all part of this same one, it's just really long, so I split it up. Also some of the quotes haven't really followed the chapters, where I know the first two definitely did, sorry. I was trying to follow a theme. The theme is… dumb, de, dum- being who you are and what you want to be and embracing it!- not to be confused with the moral of the story… ;P

Also I felt that I owed you some funny chapters, at least funny ending to chapters considering the first two were kind of dark. I don't promise anything, I go where my muse takes me, kind of like the decisions are made at the spur of the moment, forever changing a life. Sounds familiar, no? perhaps the summary to the story??? hmm, whodathunk? ;P

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Serena slid into bed, she wasn't in it for more than five minutes when a miniature lump of black fur crawled into a spot on her bed and buried herself into the hole next to the small of Serena's back. Serena hated it when Luna slept there. It made her nervous to move in her sleep in fear of crushing the cat.

Luna started purring as she fell asleep, Serena knew exactly when she was passed out because she was when the purring ended.

It wasn't much later that the cat finally fell asleep. Serena slid out of her bed and went out onto her balcony. As soon as her door slid open and she stepped out with her robe around her pajamas, she noticed Darien's light was still on.

She ignored it for the time being, just enjoying the fresh, cool air against her skin. She should have been sleeping, she should have been using this time as a recuperative healing, and she would have, she was tired enough to go to sleep but something in her wouldn't allow her.

"Is everything all right Rena?" Darien asked as he exited his room to come onto his balcony.

"Yeah." She sighed and leant against the railing so her back was to him and looked up into the sky, the moon was not out and she used to hate it when it was hidden when she was younger. Recently though she'd begun to detest the moon and all it stood for. Though a part of her still longed for the round face to shine down upon her. She felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold go through her and she turned to Darien.

He was looking at her with concern. She smiled reassuringly at him, though it was a wry smile at best.

"Luna's asleep." Serena told him silently.

"Ah. So we can talk about it, but just very quietly?" Darien raised an eyebrow and Serena was always jealous of that movement, she couldn't do it for the life of her.

"She's used to us talking and in secret, we don't want to wake the families, you know." Serena teased.

"Of course not, where would we be if that were the case?"

"Thoroughly grounded at the age of six." Serena responded. They were only two years apart in age. When he didn't respond, she looked over at him. "What?"

Darien broke into laughter as the light reflected across her periwinkle hair.

"Fine, if you're just going to laugh, then I'm going to bed!" Serena huffed and marched to her sliding glass door.

The balconies were actually rather far apart. They were built to be neighbors, not best friends and so it ensured some distance to protect both families. So when Serena felt a hand run through her hair, she knew Darien did the impossible for any human being, again. "I'm sorry I laughed." He tugged on her hair and made her turn around. "It was just a shock to see it at first, then I couldn't get over it at dinner, and then when I saw it in the starlight, I seemed to have let it all catch up to me, and it really is funny if you'd think about it, you just need to give it time and then you too will be laughing."

"I could always use the Luna pen." Serena mused more to herself then him.

"No, that wouldn't work. How would you explain to your parents how one minute its purple and then the next its blond only to go back to purple in the next instant?" He seemed to catch on to where she was thinking and cut her off. "Even if your parents didn't notice Sammy will, as will Lizzy and Andrew that your hair magically turned blond in an instant and Sammy will see you at home and school occasionally."

"You're a jerk."

"And you are a Meatball head." Darien scooped her up into a hug. "My most definitely a light weight one!"

Serena ignored the pressure that her arm position was putting on her wounded shoulder and slid out her hand to slap him on the shoulder. "Put me down!"

He dropped her to her feet, but it never really hurt. "Your wish." He tapped her on the nose. "Are you having trouble sleeping?"

"Yes." She admitted.

"Come on then." He picked her up and they lay down in his bed. Sometimes it was hers, but they'd been doing this since they were little, both not questioning the feat at jumping such a large distance, especially at such a young age. But all they ever did was sleep in the bed, nothing more, never thought to do more. It always left both of them feeling more awake the next day. When they were tired in the mornings, they hadn't slept, but stayed up all night talking, rehashing the day or their future plans.

In the morning however, they'd go back to their respective rooms and slid into bedrooms and prepared for the day like normal. Serena often just slid back in bed hoping for a few more minutes of rest, and was typical of her to sleep late when she slept in her bed all night long as it was, so nobody really questioned it. Luna's presence made their nightly slumber parties a tad more difficult.

Sometimes she'd leave early in the morning to do whatever it was that she did but other times Luna would sleep and not even notice her charge had left and come back again. When Luna left, she didn't know where Serena was but had never been overly concerned, she trusted Darien for the most part and knew they'd never really leave without the other knowing about it.

This morning Luna was content to just sleep until the sun was high in the sky. She had been a little protective of her charge this night, wanting to be near her after she found out what had happened earlier that day. She didn't need to know somebody else was protecting her, no matter how unconscious, or conscious that action was.

That morning however was a Saturday and nobody was coming in to waken the slumbering duo. Serena was stirred awake however earlier than she should have been for a Saturday and brushed the hand away. "'G way."

"Ah, this is a familiar sight." He teased, having been told the exact same thing earlier the previous day. "Come on Serena we need to get up and discuss the issue of the last battle before you go and rehash it all with you senshi."

"It'd be so much easier if you'd just tell them who you are then you could come to the meetings with us and I'd get to sleep longer and only deal with it once."

"But I told you." Darien reiterated for the millionth time despite Serena s protests that he didn't need to stay so distant that they d trust him because she trusted him and that they already trusted this form of him.

"I know, I know." She whined. "You don t need to tell me the reasons again. That would take forever." She sat up and pulled the comforter around her shoulders, if it had been her room, there would have been a throw blanket that was a little cooler, but more efficient, but it wasn't her room. The comforter made her look smaller than she already looked. Her robe was on the chair on the other side and she didn't bother to go and don it. "Let s just get this over with, so then I can eat breakfast!" She urged him on.

"Oh, that reminds me, mom said you could eat over here for breakfast if you wanted, since we eat more of a brunch anyway."

"That would require me to go back to my room, get dressed and then come over here, it s too much work!" Serena moaned. "Whereas I could just slink downstairs like this and eat a bowl of cereal."

She was just making a joke but Darien ignored her antics and offered an enticer. "She's making chocolate chip pancakes."

Serena stomach growled and Darien laughed.

"I think I'll come over."

"Even if it's too much work?" He teased.

"Wouldn't want to disappoint your mother."

"Ah, but you'd disappoint me if it wasn't for her?"

Serena launched herself at him and he fell onto the floor. She sat with her legs on either side of him, fully sheathed in pink wide leg cotton with bunnies on them. She was only wearing a fitted tee shirt under the comforter and her bare arms reached from the warmth and tickled him.

He rolled around, he was highly ticklish, and Serena knew exactly where to go for the kill and where to go to suspend his torment. He laughed and tried to bat her hands away but she captured them under her legs as well. That was her first mistake in a long time because Darien used his hands and lifted her up by her thighs and dropped her onto the bed, a little less gracefully than normal as his hands came in contact with the firm and warm appendages.

He shook himself out of that train of thought. Sure he had been attracted to Sailor Moon in the beginning, but it had been only the two of them fighting the monsters. Although to be honest when the other senshi arrived, he hadn't really been attracted to them in quite the same way he had for Sailor Moon. However it was only when she transformed he was called to protect her and when he d learn that it was Serena- it was like a dose of ice water splashing over him. She was his best friend. But sometimes he forgot they were the same person, usually it was the moment he swept her into his arms. He couldn't be attracted to Serena; they were almost family, knowing each other since they were two. It was wrong.

"Hey!" She squealed when he returned the favor and started tickling her. "Darien!" She laughed and pushed away, opened the door, and went onto the balcony in only her pajamas, the comforter lay skewed on the floor. She backed up until she hit the railing and Darien followed her, watching her with amusement as he came forward. Before he could blink she was standing on the railing and then did a back flip across the expanse of the grassy yard below them and onto her railing.

She tittered for a moment, trying to obtain her balance and she finally managed to do it, her feat had caused a slight scare in him but he was proud that she was getting better.

"I ll see you in a few." Serena jumped down onto her balcony and went inside, closing not only the door but also pulling the drapes so everything inside the somewhat large room was hidden from view. Darien laughed and smiled before going back into his room to change. He had less modesty and knew by the time he changed she wouldn't nearly be done.

However today as he was pulling his night shirt over his head Serena s peaked out, the words she was going to say dying on her lips as she saw the broad expanse of muscle that she hadn't seen since last summer when they went swimming. For some reason in the confines of his bedroom, it seemed less innocent. It hit her however that when she had seen Tuxedo Kamen's chest through a large gash in his clothing, she hadn't put both chests together to form the same one. That's how far gone she had been for the crush, but now she was over it. It had been Darien, the man she found out had been him last October, three months after the gash had taken place and five months previous of now.

Serena didn't say anything and pretended she hadn't seen that flash of sinuous muscle. She went back into her room and closed the curtains again.

"Spying on the neighbor, are we?" A female voice asked, scaring Serena. Luckily though, Luna had just woken up, not earlier when Serena was doing tricks to show off.

Serena looked down at the cat and shook her head with a laugh. "It's just Darien, Luna, it's not like I haven't seen it all before."

"Maybe you've seen it all before, but I bet it's a lot different than your memory holds it to be since you were seven." She muttered.

"What was that Luna? Serena hadn't quite catch what the cat had said and was suddenly very happy that she'd changed her top already and not have to deal with questions about the bruise, for that's what Serena was sure it was. Why it hadn't disappeared, Serena wasn't sure, maybe it had something to do with the fact that Darien had healed it and not her body itself. Though it would probably go away soon, something that deep did take a few days to heal completely.

Serena switched into a skirt and drew up a pair of tights, she could always hope, she reckoned silently, that they wouldn't get ruined. Her feet were slid into a pair of fake flat ballet slippers. She glanced at herself in the mirror to make sure her hair wasn't sticking up in a thousand directions and realized she hadn't turned on the lights. They flickered on when she hit the switch and she heard a gasp behind her, again.

Serena rolled her eyes as she turned to Luna, a glance in the mirror promised that her bruise hadn't shown through the light blue sweater. "Yes Luna, what s the matter?"

"Your hair is purple!"

"I like to think of it more as periwinkle." Serena responded glibly.

"Do you always have to be so flippant?"

Serena pouted. "It's in my nature."

Luna sighed. "Why did you color your hair Serena?"

"It's not like I had any choice in the matter. Sammy filled my shampoo with hair dye and it's suppose to last two weeks or twenty washes, that's if it s the one he though he grabbed.

"What does that mean?" Luna asked, reluctant for the answer.

"It may just be permanent." Serena's tone was sarcastic because she was not looking forward to that outcome. "Of course it'll probably fade so it'll be almost white with just the slightest hint of blue in it, of course because the red will fade completely because that's what red does."

"Oh dear." Luna mumbled and ducked her head. "You have to get it back to blond, I don t care if it's the same glorious color as before or if it's a cheap imitation. If it doesn't come out in twenty washes, you'll have to dye it. And twenty washes needs to be in the next two days."

"Why?"

"I fear that if it remains this color it'll be a dead give-away when your in battle."

"Wouldn't it just change with the transformation, maybe even fixing the color when I go back to normal?" Serena hadn't thought of it, but hoped. She grabbed her transformation locket and prayed Darien wouldn't be too angry with her as she experimented. She said her trademark phrase and transformed into Sailor Moon. Once all the bright lights died down Serena looked in the mirror and sank to her chair. Her hair carried over in the transformation.

She let the disguise drop, of course she should have known it wouldn't work, if the disguise was suppose to disguise her, she wouldn't have blond hair when she transformed, but rather they'd all have black hair or green or orange or some color that was only seen as senshi and not in real life.

"Maybe I can use the Luna pen when I'm transformed?" Serena asked the cat. "That way the coloring will be hidden on top of the magical defense to protect me."

"Speaking of that." Luna jumped up onto Serena s lap. "I heard you were injured yesterday. Are you all right?" The red orbs looked straight into Serena's and she had a hard time lying to her guardian.

"Yes." Serena pet Luna and picked her up and set her onto the ground. "I'm due next door to have breakfast with the Chibas, I'll talk to you and the senshi later."

Luna nodded and watched sadly as her charge left with a very purple head. Then she grinned; she couldn't wait to see the senshi's reaction to their new leader's look. Surprisingly, she could pull it off.

------

I managed to salve this and fix it because the two styles didn't compute, that's why some stories will take longer than others. It took me three days to get through Taken away with adding apostrophies and quotation marks. I'm currently fixing Ties that bind. Wish me luck. I have a lot to work on. There are a few things though that are still a little screwy, I hate technology sometimes.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 _It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us._

_-B.A.Fb_

"Luna. I thought you said Serena was going to be coming her after she finished eating with the Chibas. It has been over an hour since you got here. Where is she?"

As soon as the words left Ami s mouth, they heard the rubble of a motorcycle.

"I suspect that's her now."

"Ever since he got that bike, the girls have been increasingly jealous of Serena when she gets to ride to school with him on it." Lita informed Rei as the priestess got up to the door to allow Serena in as soon as she got to the front door and page her way up.

Lita followed Mina to the window to watch Serena say goodbye to her best friend and all four of the girls felt a pang that they'd never have a relationship with the fair blond as well as she had with Darien. Luna was probably the closest to it but she was more of a motherly figure than friend. The girls were unsure at the moment if any of them could be called a good friend with the girl. Lita and Mina frowned when the girl they saw get off the motorcycle was in fact not Serena as she took off her helmet and handed it to the man she was with who then latched it around his back seat where she had been sitting. He bid her farewell with a hand to his head in a salute and took off.

The girls sighed and returned to their seats. It was cute, but it wasn't their friends. Rei returned to the living room, noticing the other girls hadn't said anything. There was a chime and Lita jumped to answer the monitor. "Yes?" She asked, it being her apartment and no living relatives to speak of in the vicinity.

"Hey, want to let me up?" Serena's voice flittered through and Lita frowned. "How did you get here?"

"I walked." Serena knew the girls had been watching her from the window; they usually did when she was late, and that's why she hadn't looked up the whole way to the door. And it wasn't a lie; she walked from the bike to the door, didn't she? Besides, if the girls couldn't discern the difference between her normal voice and her sarcastic one over the intercom, it wasn't her fault, was it? "So, are you letting me up or not?"

"_OH_ yeah, sure." There was a buzz on Serena's side and she slid in through the door and took the elevator up to the fourth floor. When Lita opened the door she looked Serena over.

"You don t look like you walked. You look like you got wind blown the whole way, did he drive his car?"

Serena blinked and smiled widely at Lita, the poor girl hadn't put the two together yet and she'd been in for a surprise when she noticed two things, one her hair wasn't in its trademark fashion and two, it was purple.

Rei had the habit of talking without looking at the person first and she walked in. "It's about time you got here, Ordango Brains." Rei took one look at her friend and screamed.

The other two girls rushed in while Lita only looked at the girl like she had grown another head. "What's the matter?" Lita asked. Looking closely at the raven-haired girl.

Ami dropped the book she had been holding, her place-marker falling out and hence, she'd have to look for where she left off, but she didn't seem to care. Mina on the other hand burst into a gall of giggles

"What?" Lita asked perturbed.

Rei held out her hand and pointed behind Lita's shoulder. Lita spun around thinking a youma had come in behind her and she hadn't noticed, but when she figured out what they were all reacting to, Lita, like Mina burst, but it wasn't in laughter, Lita's eyes suddenly had courses of water running from them as she cried. "What happened to your hair?"

Serena hadn't been expecting such diverse reactions; even very different than the ones she received yesterday and even earlier today. Serena only smiled and shook her head and ignored the shocked into stutter, crying, laughing and just plain silent girls as she crossed into the living room and sat down next to Luna who had lifted her head to be pet but she had been watching the whole thing nonchalantly, knowing there'd be reactions when Serena walked in the door. The girl and cat shared a smile.

"No, I'm serious, what happened to your hair?" Lita demanded, whipping the tears away. It was strange to see the reaction from Lita, but at the heart of her, she really was a girl and a girl who liked nice things, Serena mused as she leaned into the fuzzy pillow behind her.

"Can we please get on with the meeting? I'd like to head over to the Crowns' and have lunch."

"You just came from Breakfast, which you had been eating for two hours!" Rei yelled, snapping out of her shock.

"I know, but I was planning on playing the Sailor V game for awhile."

"Serena's hair is the result of a prank made by her brother." Luna informed all the senshi when they finally sat down.

"A small question." Ami piped up, ignoring Luna's explanation for the moment. "Are you going to Andrew's or are you going to the Crown?"

"The Crown, Andy's working today."

"Can I be there when he sees your hair for the first time?" Rei crooned with excitement and Serena was almost reluctant to break it to her, almost.

"He's already seen it, he was over yesterday having dinner with us."

"It happened between dinner and the attack?" Rei was confused.

"Yeah, I came back and took a shower." Serena responded. "Darien's already seen it as well."

"Obviously, you had breakfast with him, that's why I wanted to see Andrew's response!" Rei rolled her eyes at the blond.

Serena stuck her tongue out at Rei before turning back to Luna, and let her lead this meeting, Luna had a better idea of what could happen than Serena did at this point in time. "Ergo." Luna started. "For the next few days we have to be very careful in what Serena is involved in, we don't want to draw undue attention to her. Her hair will draw enough as it is." The last part was mumbled and wasn't understood.

"Luna, something wrong? You've been mumbling so much recently." Serena drawled moving the cat off her legs after one went numb. She tapped it and winced as it shot pain through her foot. She held it still for a moment and then tapped it again.

"Sorry, they've just been side comments, I've been a little high strung since Artemis started saying that he was the voice from command that I've been fairly snappy."

"Oh, ok, I can understand that."

"Ah, come on Luna, Arty is a good, er, guy. Give him a break." Mina piped in, in defense of her oldest mentor.

"He's good to you, but he annoys me to no end, princess." Luna sighed.

"It's like you and Serena, you both love each other but sometimes you'd rather not see each other too much. That's how you and Arty are and how Arty and I are. And I guess how you and I will become, or were. Personalities are much different now than they used to be."

"How much do you remember of our past Mina?" Rei asked, suddenly curious.

"Not that much, just our goals and who we are."

"Jadeite once said that the princess had a lover, a prince." Ami started.

"She did." Mina caught herself and expanded, oh Artemis; eat your heart out, he'd be so proud. "I did, I sometimes confuse myself with the past and the present, sometimes she feels like a whole other person."

"Can you tell us who that prince is?" Ami prodded.

"I haven't met him in this lifetime yet, but if I did, it'd be explosive." Mina looked at their faces and realized they didn't understand. "I love him so deeply that he was partially the reason the millennium was destroyed."

"Partially?" Serena questioned.

"Yes." Mina looked at Serena slowly before she explained the past, at least what she remembered. "My love, her love, he was sought after by many women. One woman in particular sought him the hardest and when he chose us, she was devastated and easily swayed into revenge. There was another woman who was trying to start a war and was swaying others to join her cause, but none had previous contact with the people they hated so they were easy to manipulate either way, when the first one came upon her, that was her chance, the hatred burning in the first was near enough for the second to take hold and conquer. The first one was so much weaker than the second that she was like one of those dolls on strings."

"The first woman, what did she look like?" Serena inquired, extremely intrigued.

"I do not remember, just as I don't know where the man was a prince of or what he looked like." Mina paused and looked to Ami. "Was there more to what Jadeite said? I wish I had met him and could have helped you earlier."

"It was probably better that you had not. But he didn't say more, did he Rei?"

"No, I don't recall anything else." Rei agreed, with a quick glance at Serena then to Ami.

Serena looked between the two. "Where was I at this fight that Jadeite said something more than his usual bs?" That and she never heard about it until now, were they keeping things from her?

"He'd said some other bs about you so we decided to forget it because he couldn't be trusted, it seems some things have panned out and we pretty much remembered it now. It was when you were up north skiing when both Jadeite and Nephrite were attacking near the same time."

"Oh." Nephrite had attacked while she was skiing, but she hadn't mentioned it because she was used to fighting alone before they all came to join her, and it had been at a time when the Rei and Ami were new to the team and she hadn't thought to tell them. It made enough sense, so she didn't mind.

"Well now that we have past generals satisfied, can we _please_ move on to Zoicite and Kunzite?" Luna asked, exasperated with the tone of conversation, she was glad they were talking senshi business, but there was a purpose to this meeting, it wasn't about general ideas, but important ones obtaining to recent events.

"Sure Luna, what do you want to discuss?" Serena shrugged,

"Last night's events are forefront on my mind. I heard a little from Ami and Artemis when we were going over central controls and constructs but would you mind explaining in detail what happened?"

"Ok." They each took turns discussing what happened to inform Luna and then why things happened and what to do about it next time.

A few hours later Serena was in the arcade, ignoring several curious and disapproving looks from regulars and strangers. She was pounding the attack key as she fought a level boss.

She maneuvered her character out of the way as a rain of sparks came flying down upon her. She barely managed to miss most of them, a few hit her, taking away a few hit points, but otherwise she was fine.

"Close one there, wasn't it? You almost didn't survive." A voice said behind her, and Serena managed a glance at him before she focused again on the game, the words had an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach though and when she beat the boss and punched in the letters of her initials, a hand clasped down on her wounded shoulder. Serena didn't do the best job in hiding her grimace, but she refrained from an overdramatic reaction.

She turned towards the hand barer and it was the same guy. "Good job." He nodded towards the screen. "You're pretty good at getting yourself out of sticky situations. Wouldn't it be nice to heal as fast as the players in the game do?"

There was an option to continue now or receive a code that would allow her to pick up where she left off, she chose the second option and it printed out a piece of paper. It wouldn't work after she played it the first time until she got to the next level then there would be a different slip of paper coming out if she chose that option again or died, and then she'd start over.

"Not to be rude or anything, but is there something I can help you with?" Serena asked, blowing out her purple bangs.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry, I was just enjoying the game being played." The guy was tall and slender with dark blond hair, almost brown and he had the lightest blue eyes Serena had ever seen. "I hadn't seen anybody get to that level before, I just had to meet the girl who played so well."

"Oh. Well, I often get to that level, I never really get past it, I usually end up dying because the next level boss is really hard to beat. I've only seen one person do it before, and then they end up dying in the next one."

"I've almost beaten the level before this one, at least I think it is. Do you mind watching and telling me if it is? It took me a few times to get the hang of this game, and maybe if it is, you can tell me where it is that you've gotten to."

"All right." Serena had nothing to loose, and he seemed friendly enough, despite his way of getting her attention, the comments he made seemed so innocent now.

She ordered a drink from Andrew as he walked pass and he brought it over as he came by again. Serena and Darien as well as Sammy when he visited, didn't have to pay because they were practically family and pop didn't cost that much in the long run. She smiled at him as she took it and he smiled back.

The man practically breezed through the next two worlds, coming upon the boss that she just finished and then flying through the following one to be faced by the one she usually ended up dying from. It amused Serena that he looked somewhat like Zoicite would if he was reduced to pixels.

The man struggled with him until finally the boss was destroyed. Serena was starting to get excited; hardly anybody defeated that boss. If he beats the next one, he'd go down in some kind of Crown Arcade record book for sure.

"Have you played this game elsewhere before?" She had to ask, he said it took a few times to get a handle on it, not that he'd won or played it through before.

"No, this is my first time getting past the second world and the first time I'd played the game was yesterday."

"Oh." She turned back to watch him play some more. He was quite good, a harder warrior than Serena had ever faced faced him and it seemed easier for the man than the weaker one was. He managed to get through the rest of the worlds without fail and when he came upon what Serena thought to be the final boss, his character was reduced to tears and then death.

"I don't think I could ever beat that one."

"She didn't look that hard."

"But she's backed by a more difficult enemy. Besides, looks can be deceiving." The man told her, no longer looking at her with hard eyes that were calculating but just a friendly gaze.

"Oh, how did you manage to defeat the other ones?"

"You have to know their weaknesses, the one you struggle with, its weakness is vanity, so you turn the mirror on them and they become enthralled and distracted. The next one, the one you said your friend dies at all the time that one was easy, it struggles with love, so you throw love-me chains around it and it instantly backs away in fear. The next one, I don't know, so that's why I died."

"I never realized that about them, what were the first two's weaknesses then?"

"Strength and focus."

"Focus?"

"It can be lead astray, not by itself but by other things, so its weakness was focus." The man explained.

"What's your name?" Serena questioned, realizing her manners.

"Kyle." He responded. "And yours?"

"Serena!" A female voice called before arms were thrown around Serena in greeting. "I haven't seen you in forever, where have you been hiding yourself recently?"

"Molly!" Serena's arms wrapped around her friend, the girl had been in so many attacks and Serena always feared it was because they hung out together and that her energy charges managed to make her friend the target in misunderstanding.

"I'm sorry. Kyle, this is Molly." Serena grinned at her friend when she made an approving noise.

"Pleased to meet you, handsome, I mean Kyle." Molly shook his hand. "Sorry, but I need to drag her away, we are going to hang out today, even if she didn't know it."

"That's all right, I need to work on how to beat the final boss anyways." Kyle smiled at the two as they went away.

"What did he mean final boss?"

"He's gotten to the final boss stage." Serena clarified.

"Wow, what a nerd. An amazingly hot nerd, but if he's played enough to beat you and Mina at the game, then he's a nerd for sure."

"He's not a nerd, he'd never played the game before yesterday, other than that, I can't attest to anything."

"Oh." Molly sighed dreamily as she looked at the guy, then shook herself out of it. "He's hot, you should try to date him sometime when your hair is back to its natural blond color, what happened by the way?"

"Brother."

"Ah, no need to say more, it explains everything." Molly laughed and wrapped her arm through Serena's. "What do you say to Lunch, here or somewhere else?"

"I say, ok."

"Ok." Molly laughed and they slipped out the door, with Serena waving a cheerful goodbye to Andrew.

Kyle watched them leave then returned to his prodding of the machine.


	7. Chapter 7

!-- page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --

Chapter 7

"_Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you."_

_-B._

Darien found Serena in the Crown's arcade and Darien watched her purple head bob up and down as she fought with the machine. He slid up closer to her and watched her play, wow, she made amazing progress in two days, than the last time he'd seen her play. She was facing a redhead, but in tiny pixels.

When Serena died, she took a different reaction than Darien had ever seen. She started pounding on the machine.

"_Hey_!" Darien grabbed her and turned her around. Serena froze as she looked up at him. "What was that about?" He demanded as she shook herself out of the anger.

"I'm sorry." She looked back at the machine and then turned her attention to Andrew who was staring at her. "I'm sorry!" She called out to him before she ran out of the arcade.

Darien watched her leave, he wasn't too worried, a little, yes, but she most likely wouldn't do anything rash. Darien had just arrived and made his way over to Andrew for a few minutes to talk.

"How are you man?" Darien greeted.

"What was with Serena?" Andrew looked at his machine. "She's the third person to do that today." He explained.

"Really?" Darien's attention piqued.

"Yeah, but one of them always attacks machines when they loose."

"But Serena doesn't." Darien summarized. "I'll be talking to her later. But for now, do you mind if I play that game?"

"If you start attacking it, I'm not going to be happy." Andrew warned, but it was in a teasing tilt.

"I'll try not to."

Darien moved through the stages easily until he reached the one that Serenity used to die at. He figured out how to beat it when by accident when he stumbled upon the mirror.

He tried everything once so once something work; he discarded it on the next fight as an option. He met up with the one that Serenity just died against, this one was a little hard. Pure strength didn't work, out of the corner of his eye, Darien saw a man standing in the wings. He chain roped the man and was a little confused as it was him in pixel form. Why was Tuxedo Kamen in the enemy's lair in hiding? Maybe he really was supposed to work for the enemy, but there weren't any of the scouts in any of the stages. It was a make believe game in from the senshi Sailor V, action hero and publicly known figure, as well as the supposed princess of the moon.

The red haired woman faltered and Darien attacked as Sailor V. He defeated her, but just as she lay dying, she reached out a hand and a swirl of color surrounded her, and her hair turned green, her skin yellow, her eyes red and her dress brown. Darien felt sick with the color combination. She blasted the man away and Darien cringed in pain as if that could really happen and it would hurt. The new woman turned towards Darien and charged up to attack. Darien held down the defense button as it attacked him. Half his life points disappeared and he powered up for his strongest attack and returned the blast. This time as the final boss powered up and attacked, the Tuxedo Kamen figure jumped in front and took it. Something happened to Sailor V and the skirt flared out and Sailor V became more elegant _and_ weaker looking.

The screen said 'found crystal.' Darien put all of his magic points into the crystal before attacking and the woman disintegrated.

Sailor V collapsed and landed with Tuxedo Kamen. "Did you just die?" A man asked and Darien looked up to find somebody he didn't know. It was Kyle, watching the very last of the game.

"I don't know." Darien admitted, he didn't really play video games, but he couldn't image Mina indorsing a game that was impossible to defeat. It was strange however that this game came out a few months ago when it was three rogue senshi, him, Sailor V and Sailor Moon.

So if he and Sailor V were in it, where was Sailor Moon?

Keeping a low profile. A voice in his head reasoned, or she's not a real senshi, hence the exclusion from the game… another voice questioned.

Kyle pointed at the screen. "Look at that." Darien turned his attention towards the screen and watched as Sailor V and Tuxedo Kamen were engulfed in light and they were returned to the first screen. It read 'Congratulations, you won this segment of the game,' and then he was given the option of who he wanted to play as. He saved the game and a code printed out. It was unlike any code he'd seen before but he shoved it into his pocket before the other man could see it.

"Well, I'm off. Do you play this game?" Darien asked the stranger.

"I've played this game a few times in the last few days, but I always die at the redhead. How did you defeat her?"

"I got lucky, I guess." Darien shrugged and the man's pale blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. As Darien left, he felt like the man's cynical eyes bore into him. A completely different attitude than the one Serena had received from him.

Darien left to look for Serena. He hadn't felt any anger at the game, but maybe that was because he won. He called her, and when she answered the phone she sounded normal. "Oh hi Darien!" She greeted.

"Where are you?" He asked.

"Oh me? I'm with Molly, we're going to the ice cream shop and then out to the ball game."

"Ball game?" Darien teased. "Since when are you and Molly fans of baseball?"

"Oh, since she's gotten a crush on the number one batter. I think she actually has a chance with him. He always comes over and talks to us."

"You sure it's Molly he talks to?" Darien knew Serena was oblivious to her own beauty.

"Yes." Serena drawled in a mocking tone. "Even when I'm not there, he and Molly talk."

"Ok, that's good then. I'm glad she's past that whole Nephrite thing."

"I don't know if she'll ever get past that." Serena sighed. "But I do have to go; I'll talk to you more tomorrow." Serena hung up the phone and turned to wait for Molly to cross the street.


End file.
